


Hard to Say Goodbye

by SilverStone0707



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Aged-Up Dib (Invader Zim), Alcohol, Angst, Dib is Of Legal Age (Invader Zim), Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverStone0707/pseuds/SilverStone0707
Summary: Dib reaches 19 years old, and faced with the news that his "friend" Zim has to leave.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Hard to Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NouvumLumen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NouvumLumen/gifts).



The room was loud.  
Music bounced around Dib’s eardrums at a volume so high that it almost could shatter them. But Dib didn’t care. He loved it! He chuckled at nothing as his body kept swaying to the bang bang bang of the beat. The room was so warm, so loud. Dib’s head kind of hurt. He took another swig from the bottle, and felt as it burned down his throat. It burned better than tears.  
Suddenly, something grasped his arm and pulled him to the side. He gasped and dropped the bottle, and screamed as whatever the hell was in it drenched his shirt. Dib was given no time to cry over the shattered glass as he was forced to stumble across the room, guided roughly around the mess of bodies. A door opened in front of him, and the night air stung through his soaking wet shirt. The thing didn’t let go of him until he was next to some black car.  
Dib leaned against the vehicle, taking a minute to catch his breath. The world was spinning. Once it slowed down, he turned to look at his kidnapper. His vision lagged behind him. Funny the things alcohol did.  
“What the _hell_ are you doing?!” Said green kidnapper yelled. In front of Dib, with his arms crossed around his chest and antennae pinned backward, stood Zim. Against the quiet crickets and the faint booming of the party, his voice sounded harsh to Dib’s ears.  
“The hell do _you_ care,” Dib practically spat back. Zim flinched slightly at the response, looking to the ground. There seemed to be turmoil in those pupil-less eyes.  
“Making sure your dumb human self doesn’t get killed,” he muttered back. He sounded.. weak. It was so unlike him, but it’s not like it mattered to Dib.  
“I won’t get _killed_ , Zim. I’m an adult! I can take care of myself, and I certainly don’t need some useless alien to pretend he cares about me!” Dib’s voice raised across the empty parking lot. There was something streaming along his face. He preferred to tell himself it was probably just the spilt alcohol.  
Zim’s expression tightened. It looked as though he had been dealt a blow. “I’m not pretending..” He tried, but not before being cut off in his hesitation.  
“Then why are you leaving?! If you cared you wouldn’t just leave me!” Dib’s vision was horribly blurred, and tears seemed to smear across his glasses.  
“The Armada needs me! I-I’m an elite invader! I need to serve my Tallests! It’s my only purpose!” Zim tried desperately, arms flailing in emphasis. It’s not like he enjoyed this either.  
Dib groaned and brought his hand up to his head. It hurt so much.  
“But Zim.. _I_ need you.”  
He wasn’t even looking at Zim anymore. Instead, he felt his body give in to the tears without his consent. They ran across his face and dripped onto the pavement into scattered dots. His shoulders shook wildly with every breath he took. He didn’t know what to do. Because somewhere inside him, Dib knew he was in the wrong. The Armada was Zim’s home- just as Earth was Dib’s. Zim didn’t belong here, and he shouldn’t have to stay. So why did it hurt so much?  
A weight made its way onto Dib’s shoulder hesitantly. He tensed up in response, but didn’t move away. Rather, it only tugged at his chest more. Before he knew it, the hand moved away, and instead two thin arms wrapped around his waist tightly. The pain seared away at Dib’s heart.  
“I’m sorry,” Zim barely breathed out.  
Dib stopped fighting it, his body collapsing in the other’s grasp. He felt like a child again- his own wails ringing through his ears, and his hands grasping aimlessly at Zim’s back. His tears sank into the alien’s shirt, collecting into a growing pool. He thought he could maybe feel something rubbing circles along his back, surprisingly soothingly. The late air continued to hit at his back, chilling him to the bone.  
The two stood, wrapped around each other, for what could be anything from minutes to hours. Maybe, for just a moment, they’d be able to forget what was to come, and that they hadn’t even been able to say I love you yet.


End file.
